Page 8 of Vampire Lee

“It should always be your aim, man.”

Lee shook his head but chuckled. “Is that why you’re here tonight?”

“I don’t do vampires.”

Lee stared at him for several seconds. “What?”

“I wasn’t coming on to you.” Eli gave him a serious look, and Lee barked a laugh. Pissing bastard.

“I don’t do wolves, so don’t worry, laddie.” He winked at Eli before moving toward the bear he didn’t want to serve.

“Likes to live dangerously and only fucks jaguars, is that it?” Eli’s call followed him all the way to the bear, and he sighed.

“What can I get you, sir?”

“You’re dating a jaguar?” A chill shot up Lee’s spine at the calculated look.

“Not dating, no. What can I get you?”

The bear looked at him for a too-long moment. “A beer, please.”

Lee gestured at the bottles on display.

“Whatever you have on tap is fine.”

Nodding, Lee grabbed a glass and poured a beer. He didn’t look at the bear as he did, but he sensed his gaze on him.

“Vampire Lee!” A call came from the other end of the bar, and he nodded in confirmation. Once the glass was full, he put it in front of the bear and accepted the cash he handed over. Damn, he’d hoped for a credit card, so he could get a name.

Once the bear waved off the change Lee tried to hand back to him, he dropped it in the tip jar and moved toward the man who’d called for him. Another beer, a woman wanted a whiskey sour, a vampire in an expensive suit asked for a glass of their finest red wine, and the night rolled on.

The bear didn’t leave his stool, and he drank his beer so slowly Lee wanted to snarl at him. Why was he in a bar if he didn’t plan on drinking? Especially since he appeared to be on his own.

Time and time again, he looked up only to see him study Lee, and it made his skin crawl.

More time passed. A young bear female was flirting with him, and he played along for a little bit, but he didn’t do females, never had and suspected he never would. Unless he grew ancient and got bored. He couldn’t see it happening, though.

“A whiskey, please.”

Lee almost jumped when the bear spoke while he was pouring yet another beer. “Coming right up.” Lee grinned at him, went to switch the beer for money, and grabbed a whiskey tumbler. “Ice?”

“No.”

Nodding, Lee poured two fingers and placed the glass in front of him. He paid cash again. “Is your jaguar friend here?”

The chill was back. “No, I haven’t seen him today.”

“But he comes here regularly?”

Jaguars were rare. Lee wasn’t sure how rare, but Rei was the only jaguar who ever came to the club, so rarer than vampires. Or maybe it was only that Hagwall didn’t have a population of them. “Now and then. He works odd hours.”

“Doing what?”

Oh, fuck. “I’m not sure, to be honest. Different projects, I think.” Cases, different cases, but projects could work as an explanation.

“You have to introduce me sometime. I’ve never met a jaguar.”

“You’re staying in Hagwall?” He might recognize him as someone Jala knew, but he wasn’t in many times per year. When he came, he often came several days in a row though, which supported Lee’s theory of him moving around.

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